A day after being severely injured by villagers, the 6-year-old stray tigress was again cornered on Thursday and savagely attacked by a group of men carrying wooden sticks in Maitaina Village. The poor animal became motionless in the field despite forest officials arriving at the site to save her.
She had allegedly attacked and injured some villagers over the last few days.
— Priyangi Agarwal (@priyangiaTOI) 25 July 2019
— Trapti Jain Ⓥ 🌱 (@Vegantrapti) 26 July 2019
According to villagers, she had attacked a person even after being injured the day before.
The villagers were so outraged that they prevented forest officials from taking the profusely bleeding tigress to a veterinary hospital. Hours later, the big cat succumbed to her injuries.
Meanwhile, as the videos of the assault on the animal spread on social media, netizens were shocked by the attack and merciless killing of the endangered animal and left asking what was behind the cruelty of the local villagers.
— Yamini Jadhav (@yamini_jadhav) 26 July 2019
— Chandan Gaud🇮🇳 (@Godchan7) 26 July 2019
— Devang (@Devang2019) 26 July 2019
— Sana Mulla (@sana_mulla) 26 July 2019
Some users even lashed out at the local authorities for failing to prevent the assault on the tigress, suggesting that quicker action could have saved the animal.
— Savitri Singh (@Savitri63) 26 July 2019
— Lalit sinha (@Lalitvijayee) 26 July 2019
— Khan dr m (@Khandrm2) 26 July 2019
The tigress belonged to the nearby Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) and had reportedly strayed away from the forest area to the village, some days ago.
Meanwhile, the local police have filed a complaint against 31 unidentified assailants and another 12 unknown attackers of the animal under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.